Japanese ultra-uber nationalists go wild in Myeongdong

A group of Japanese ultra-nationalists Two stupid teenagers went berserk unnoticed the other day in Myeongdong.  A calm and impartial analyst familiar with Japanese affairs explained: "The video clearly shows that the two were provoked by the passerbys. It's yet another example of how Korean nationalists keep harrassing law-abiding Japanese citizens. The petty Korean uber-nationalists should get over their history for once and shut the fuck up." Nevertheless the Koreans insisted on them to apologize many many times. After delivering a half-assed apology the two were heard demanding "a carte blanche for further inanities."

Die vergessene Entführung von Lee Jae Hwan

Am 13. März 1986  war Wien Schauplatz einer spektulären Flucht. Die einige  Jahre zuvor von Nordkorea entführten Südkoreaner Shin Sang Ok (신상옥) und die Schauspielerin Choe Un Hee (최은희), schafften es in ihrem Taxi nordkoreanischen Agenten abzuschütteln und fanden vor den Toren der amerikanischen Botschaft ihren Weg in die Freiheit.

Ebenfalls mit Wienbezug, aber vergessen hingegen ist die traurige Geschichte des südkoreanischen Studenten Lee Jae Hwan (이재환) welche sich im darauffolgenden Jahr ereignete. Der zu dem Zeitpunkt 25-jährige Doktorratsstudent an der renommierten MIT Sloan School of Management verschwand nach einem Flug nach Wien unter ungeklärten Umständen. Generell wird von einer Entführung durch nordkoreanische Agenten ausgegangen, wobei ein Überlaufen aus eigenem Willen nicht mit Sicherheit ausszuschließen ist.

Lee verbrachte die Zeit vom 22.05.1987 bis 17.07.1987 auf einer Europareise mit Kommilitonen. Bereits 3 Tage nach seiner Rückkehr in die Vereinigten Staaten brach er mit Pan Am Flug 046 wieder nach Wien auf. Nach seiner Ankunft in Wien verlor sich seine Spur, ehe er am 8. August 1987 vom nordkoreanischen Staatsfernsehen als Überläufer präsentiert wurde. Er gab an dass er von der südkoreanischen Gesellschaft und der kapitalistischen Welt disillusioniert sei.

Die Entführung kann als Teil der Propaganda- und Terrorkampagne gegen die politischen Umbrüche Südkoreas im Juni 1987, und die  Vergabe der Olympischen Spiele 1988 an Seoul gesehen werden. Zusätzlich unterstützt wird diese Sichtweise durch die familäre Herkunft von Lee. Sein Vater Lee Yong Uk (이용욱) war Abgeordneter der Minjeong Partei (민정당).

Entfuehrung von südkoreanischen Staatsbürgern durch Nordkorea waren nicht ungewöhnlich. Allein im Jahr 1987 fanden insgesamt 13 Entfuehrungen statt. Neben Propagandazwecken wurden südkoreanische Bürger für die Ausbildung von Spionen herangezogen. 

Nordkoreanische Journalisten übermittelten seiner Familie im Jahr 1988 die Nachricht, dass Lee in Nordkorea eine Familie gegründet habe. 11 Jahre späte berichtete der südkoreanische Geheimdienst über die Inhaftierung Lees in einem Lager für politische Gefangene nach einem fehlgeschlagenen Fluchtversuch aus Nordkorea. Die Hoffnung seiner Familie Lee im Rahmen einer Familienzusammenführung im Jahr 2001 lebend sehen zu können wurden durch ein Telegramm erschüttert. Der kurze Inhalt: “Lee Jae Hwan verstorben”.

Suicide Reporting in Korean Media

Contrary to their European and American counterparts Asian Media tend to be more careless and sensational when it comes to reporting suicides.

Of course it is overly simplistic to think that media reporting of suicide is the causal factor of copycat suicides. But people who are already in a critical state of mind might get further encouraged in their plans to commit suicide by the details conveyed in such reports. To prevent copycat suicides, many media are following guidelines on suicide reporting.

Some usual guidelines are:
- not using the word suicide in headlines
- not disclosing the suicide method
- not disclosing the contents of the suicide note
- not offering simple explanations as to why the person in question has committed suicide

- or often even not reporting suicide cases at all unless it cannot be avoided

Korean newspapers however, not only frequently report suicides but also don’t seem to follow the guidelines proposed by the Korean Association for Suicide Prevention.

Headlines of articles dealing with suicide cases often contain the word suicide. As one would expect, such articles get a lot of exposure. Suicide related articles can often be found among the most read news items in the society section. On January 25th 2012 articles involving suicide or suicide attempts ranked number 2, 8 and 10 among the most popular items. Among those was the story of a 70 something man who reportedly killed himself because he was suffering from depression. The newspaper decided to disclose the reason for his depression (his two daughters not being married yet) and contents of his suicide note.

 
Another article (13th most read in the Society section of Naver News on 21. January 2012) illustrates the imprudent style of suicide reporting in Korea.

 

딸 그리던 엄마 명절 앞두고 투신자살

(서울=연합뉴스) 조민정 기자 = 먼저 세상을 떠난 딸을 그리워하던 50대 여성이 명절을 앞두고 스스로 목숨을 끊었다.

20일 오후 7시53분께 서울 마포구의 한 아파트에 A(58.여)씨가 추락해 숨져 있는 것을 주민이 발견했다.

A씨 옆에는 생전에 딸과 같이 키우던 애완견이 숨진 채 함께 발견됐다.

A씨는 6년 전 딸이 이 아파트에서 스스로 뛰어내려 숨진 뒤 우울증과 불면증을 앓아왔고 평소 주변 사람들에게 "죽고 싶다"고 말해온 것으로 전해졌다.

5층에 사는 A씨는 딸이 뛰어내렸던 9층으로 가 몸을 던졌고 남편에게는 "잘 살아라"라는 내용이 담긴 유서를 남겼다.

경찰은 딸의 죽음으로 우울증을 앓게 된 A씨가 스스로 아파트에서 뛰어내려 목숨을 끊은 것으로 보고 정확한 경위를 조사하고 있다.

So let's see what's wrong with the article:

 

Headline contains:
- the word suicide
- the suicide method
- the circumstances and motivation of her decision (already implicitly suggesting to the reader that the daughter died by suicide)

Text contains:
- a description when, where and in which state the woman was found.
- that she took the family dog with her.
- how her daughter committed suicide.
- description of the pain the mother went through.
- that she committed suicide in the same way and at the same location as her daughter.
- contents of the suicide note left to her husband.

It is clear that this article has the potential to encourage other parents who are in the same situation to commit suicide as well. Therefore, the Korean government, being confronted with the highest suicide rate of all OECD countries, has to make sure that the media take an active role in suicide prevention.

Hanja in Korean newspapers

Although the use of Hanja in Korean newspapers has greatly diminished, a smattering knowledge of Chinese characters is still useful when it comes to deciphering headlines. Especially while reading internet news the headline is the only way to determine whether an article is worth reading or not. To give an example:

<與도 野도 ‘反대기업’>“마녀사냥식 대기업 죽이기 우려”


與 and 野 are probably the most common Chinese characters appearing in the political news section of Korean newspapers. 與 refers to the ruling party, while 野 refers to the opposition party. 反 means "to be against something".

Here are some of the most useful Hanja to know:

Hanja	general meaning	usual meaning in newspapers
與	to take part	the ruling party
野	field	the parlamentary opposition
靑	blue	the Blue House
軍	military	the military
檢	to investigate	prosecution, prosecutors office, SPO
訴	to blame	lawsuit
北	North	North Korea
中	middle, China	China
南	South	South Korea
伊	this, that, he, she	Italy
豪	hero	Australia
佛	Buddha	France
美	beautiful, USA	USA
日	the sun, Japan	Japan
獨	alone	Germany
加	to add	Canada
故	old, dead	the late “name of person”, somebody who is deceased

Korean netizens come up with a new name for GNP

Korean netizens are having a field day finding a new name for the Grand National Party (한나라당). Among the suggestions are:

미래친박연합 (미친연)
사랑과기쁨당 (사기당)
미국과 친한당 (미친당)
자유위민당 (자위당)
한나라아니당
망했당

The Grand National Party is believed to announce it's new name tomorrow on February 2nd 2012.